Baby Alyssia was born 8 weeks early and has spent her entire time in an incubator
The father of a baby girl born eight weeks premature has spoken about how a holiday to Georgia, which was meant to be a stepping stone to their new life in London, turned into a medical emergency.
Gawaine Elaine’s daughter, Alyssia, was born ‘critically early’ at 31 weeks of gestation. Due to severe maternal preeclampsia and high blood pressure, she suffered from severe fetal growth restriction in the womb. She was born on June 12, weighing an incredibly fragile 720 grams—nearly a kilogram below what a standard baby at her gestation should weigh.
He and his wife have four other children and have never suffered any complications with their births. With Alyssia, his wife had felt cramps but thought they were Braxton Hicks contractions. After they didn’t go away, they called an ambulance at 1pm. By 3pm, Alyssia was born. However, that is when the challenges began.
The family, originally from South Africa, but with an ancestry visa to live in the UK, had everything planned out to move to London in a few weeks, but they have had to put those plans on hold.
Alyssia had to be resuscitated after coming out ‘blue’ as she wasn’t breathing, which was a ‘terrifying’ experience. She was put on a ventilator to aid her breathing.
Since being born, she was moved to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in a government hospital in Tbilisi, Georgia, where she received all-around care, from blood transfusions to steroids to help develop her organs that never got the chance.
Gawaine told MyLondon “This is our fifth child. We had plans already to move to Wanstead, as I had a job lined up there, and we just wanted to travel around a bit, so we came to Georgia. We wanted to be back in the UK for the time of her birth and be settled with the family, but unfortunately, she came early.
“Alyssia is expected to be in the hospital for two to three months. As we are not citizens here and are currently on a transit visa before relocating to the UK for my work, we have no state medical coverage. Insurance didn’t help cover us for the birth, and now we’ve got huge medical bills.”
On top of the blood transfusions, they have to pay for her daily care, daycare costs and doctors have stated that she will need to remain confined to her incubator for at least two-and-a-half months. They are currently paying around £320 a day while Alyssia remains at level 3 critical status.
Given these costs and the current situation, Gawaine has started a fundraiser to help cover costs. He will have to leave his wife and Alyssia behind to return to the UK and resume work to earn more money.
He added: “We’re gonna have to split up for a little while so I can go to the UK and set everything up, work and help pay these bills. It seems like it never ends. The whole plan was for us to be together, then go to the UK, but now that can’t happen.
“My wife cries [about the situation]and tries to keep busy. I spend most of my time with the kids trying to stay strong for them. When they ask about her, we show them a picture and tell them everything will be fine. There’s not much we can do about it, so it’s easier for them to know that the doctors are handling it.
“If Alyssia recovers faster than expected, or if her final medical bills come in under our target, we give our absolute word that every single extra pound raised will be donated directly to local neonatal charities to help other vulnerable premature babies fighting for their lives in the NICU”, Gawaine continued.
If you’d like to donate to help Alyssia, click here.
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